S. Korean nuke envoy in D.C. for talks on N. Korea

By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, April 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will seek ways to avert future North Korean provocations and discuss contingency plans in case their efforts fail, when their top point men on the communist nation gather in Washington, D.C. this week, a South Korean official said Sunday. Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul's new special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, also indicated that he may meet bilaterally with Tokyo's chief nuclear envoy. Hwang flew to the U.S. capital for the trilateral meeting, slated for Monday, with his American counterpart Glyn Davies and Junichi Ihara, the director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan's foreign ministry. It would be the first group meeting in five months of the three regional powers' chief delegates to the now-suspended six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear program. It is designed to reaffirm the close coordination among the three parties with regard to the possibility of North Korea's further provocative acts, Hwang told reporters after arriving at a Washington airport. "We will also explore ways to prevent North Korea's provocations," he added. Hwang also said there is a chance for a separate meeting with Ihara. If held, it would reflect Seoul's push for strengthening security cooperation with Tokyo despite history and territorial disputes between the neighboring nations. It could be "unnatural" for the top South Korean and Japanese nuclear envoys not to meet on the sidelines of this trilateral session, Hwang said. When the top nuclear negotiators of the three sides gathered in Washington in November, South Korea did not have a bilateral meeting with Japan. On Pyongyang's threat to carry out another nuclear test, Hwang said he would not rule out the possibility. He added it's still too early to predict whether or when the six-party talks will reopen. The negotiations, also involving North Korea, China and Russia, were last held in December 2008. North Korea and Japan, meanwhile, may have "secret talks" in China or some other place soon, Japan's Kyodo News reported, citing an unidentified source "familiar with the situation." lcd@yna.co.kr leechidong@gmail.com (END)